


The X Equation

by GalaxyGoat



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Gen, Literally a fic ive wanted to write since I was a child, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 10:24:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19990603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyGoat/pseuds/GalaxyGoat
Summary: Q is summoned by the Continuum to find the answer to X, one of the Universe's most daunting questions. Fortunately for him, the trip takes him across the multiverse back to the USS Enterprise-E and her Captain, Jean-Luc Picard, as well as a meeting with a familiar, yet surprising crewman, himself from another reality where he never regained his powers and he never sacrificed himself to the Calamaraine. Joined by himself, Picard, and Data, Q leads the foursome into a trip across the multiverse in hopes that eventually they will find where X marks the spot.





	The X Equation

It’s a normal day in the Continuum.

If the Continuum could have a normal day, that is, if the Continuum had days, if the Continuum could spend a fraction of its time actually living life and enjoying it instead of sitting on the proverbial rocking horse of eternity, then it would be a normal, boring, usual day.

For some, at least.

The last few times the Continuum was disrupted, there have been a few shakeups that have finally gotten some of the Q off their asses and out of the Continuum on the insistence of one annoying boy.

That’s right, _a boy._ He’s a boy, because he can’t be bothered to grow up. Or maybe he has, and the Continuum just hasn’t bothered to tell he isn’t a boy. Not anymore, anyways, not with how much he’s grown over the last few years. Years, at least by Terran standards, because otherwise who even cares trying to make sense of the passage of time in the Continuum.

But anyway, a boy. And a girl. And the value of X.

See, the Continuum, if trying to put it into words means staying to a strictly heteronormative view of the world, then the story seems to be just simply as follows: boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Girl becomes a rebel. And boy joins her into the smattering mass of chaos that becomes mortal life. But in reality, boy isn’t a boy, and girl isn’t a girl, you see, and instead, they are infinitely powerful, genderless beings of supreme legacy who have graced the world for far too long.

But that’s a lot more than you came here to understand, yes?

Back to the story – so boy falls for girl and she knows this, and uses him to create a bit of chaos in the world. Now, boy has already made his mark on the world a million times over, but his desire to shake up the Continuum with a mate leads him down this road, chasing her down and pretending he knows she wants him. That’s why she wants him around, right? Why she NEEDS him there.

Truth be told, boy was just a little horny after having spent far too long with mortals despite seeing how barbaric their acts of making love were. So boy wanted her for more than just her rebellious ideology and her desire to change the universe at its core…he found it insatiable. He needed it…And she wouldn’t give it to him.

So boy settled with an ex-girlfriend and made a baby. That’s it. That’s the story, and I’m sticking to it. That’s what happened. And X, the answer, the one who marks the spot, she was never seen again. And boy lived the rest of his time in the Continuum with his wife and son (subjective, not a wife, after all, and not a son…more…a mate and an offspring), and girl was gone forever, still, even when one of their own committed suicide, even when two left to reproduce, when a certain boy cleaned up the mess of a certain smaller boy by the name of Trelane, and so on and on. And she never came back, and he wondered if it was his fault, if he chased her away, if perhaps she just didn’t love him anymore (Subjective, love is an emotion, and the Continuum does not feel love, not in the slightest), or if the war drove her away…or if…perhaps…

Maybe things just wouldn’t have worked out anyway. And Q in his heart of hearts of hearts, if he has hearts, however many he does, or how few he doesn’t, knew it wasn’t really his fault like Q and Q and Q and Q said, and when Q and Q and Q and Q decided they wanted to find her he was left alone to his devices wondering if she could even be found.

And that’s why, right now, he is facing Q, and Q, and Q and Q and Q and Q and even Q of all people in the Continuum, being faced with a proposition they know full well he just can’t resist.

“We need her back here, Q,” they began, their gaze making him want to melt into the floor.

“But why her? Of all the Q who have left, of all the people-“

“There you go, using that word again. _People…._.”

“PEOPLE,” he shouts, trying to get their attention back. “Who has left…you care about her. Why? No one even remembers her or what she even looks like!”

“But you do,” Q began, leaning forward in his little chair, not at all bothered by how Q’s mind had decided to make sense of the jury was to make the Continuum an elaborate courtroom of sorts, the jury of tired, annoyed immortals coiled around him like a group of slithery snakes. “And you must find her.”

“The answer cannot simply be a Q named X. That’s ridiculous. Do you know how silly you sound?” Q retorts, trying very hard not to looked shocked that she was even being brought up. “X has been a variable we have been looking for for eons. And you can’t tell me it’s _her,_ it simply can’t be!”

“But it is,” Q sighs. “Why you of all Q are the one we’re sending off on this mission is beyond me. In fact, we would be better off sending Q, since despite his upbringing it’s clear he’s grown more than you ever have.”

Q, or q, as Q once affectionately referred him to, has made himself a model member of the Continuum while his father seemed more preoccupied to continue to cause chaos, so much so that his mother, Q, had announced her separation now that their combined offspring had grown. Q knew it wouldn’t last forever, after all, the Q was seldom known for mating at all, let alone for life, but at least Q had the decency to respect her decision.

_“After all_ ,” she huffs with a scowl. _“You always loved those humans more than me. If I knew better, I would even say you loved_ him _more than you ever loved anyone.”_

A tease, of course. Jean-Luc? Him? Please. He had a better shot with Janeway, after all with how much he was still pining over Beverly Crusher. Or were they married now? Q frowns, realizing he has no idea. Maybe he owes Jean-Luc a visit….anyways….

That was a crush at most.

“Q is a good boy, and you know he’s busy as a bee, keeping to himself. A smart boy, too. He knows better than to get tangled in your affairs.”

“Again, with the human analogs, Q. Are you going to agree to this assignment, or should we look for someone else _again_?”

Q, knowing damn well he’s going to say yes, purses his lips. “You want to sent me to another universe to find the answer to X, just so I can drag her home and make her face the repercussions of what she has done by simply leaving us?”

“Yes, Q. That is the point.”

“Well. Of course. Why wouldn’t I? This would be a thrilling little adventure!”

“Thrilling isn’t what we would say…but…if you feel as though you can handle this, then so be it. Bring us the answer to X. The equation must be solved.”

“Yeah, yeah. The equation. That’s all,” Q eyes his superiors for a moment, an almost cruel, knowing smile on his face. “Keep an eye on Q and Q for me, will you? There’s no telling how things might shake-up.”

"Do take care, Q, not to fuck this up like you have so many other assignments handed to you."

"Oh please," Q laughs, the sound almost dangerous. "I already know where I'm gonna start..."


End file.
